How to Set Up Video Conferencing at School

Video conferencing can show emotions better than an email or phone call.

Video conferencing is a way for people to meet online by sharing a video feed, so that each party can see and hear each onother. Thanks to compression and the many computer programs available today, video conferencing is very simple and can be done with minimal bandwidth. Conducting video conferencing at a school simply requires permission from the right people.

Things You'll Need

• Chat software
• Video camera

Instructions

1. Contact the system administrator. She may have certain ports or websites locked down so that video conferencing is available. Ask if video conferencing can be performed from the school and if she needs to make any changes.

2. Connect a video camera. You can use the simplest USB camera or connect an expensive video camera through a Firewire port. Many basic USB cameras are available and made just for simple video conferencing.

3. Install software that facilitates conferencing. AIM and Skype are two available programs that can be downloaded for free and used to video-conference. Each party just needs to have the software installed and create an account with the program. Go to the menu and choose to initiate a new call, then enter the other person's username. Before you call, you may need to go into the computer's options menu and select your camera and microphone source.

Resources

• Skype: Conferencing software